The Do It Yourself Master of Fine Arts in writing book delivers tactics, techniques, and strategies for studying and developing a writing career. The book is divided into sections: orientation, write with focus, read with purpose, and build your community.

This is a practical guide for fiction and non-fiction authors who are serious about getting their best work published. ( )

This was a wonderful overview for a budding writer without dealing with others in a program. The author has also created great resources outside of the book as well and has an informative website and podcast. ( )

Although this is designed for those wanting to write literary fiction, genre writers can get a lot from this. Pack with great advice that can be done rather than pie in the sky advice that lacks specifics. If you want to write, you could do much worse than this book. ( )

I picked DIYMFA up at the 2016 Writer's Digest Conference in New York, and got to hear the author talk as well. She is sincere, hard-working, and very supportive, and she has nurtured a strong community.

The book is a very readable, thorough, comprehensive (at times intimidatingly) reference for writers, full of common sense, good rules-of-thumb, and useful acronyms. I worked my way through it taking notes and am now reviewing my notes. I would say it is most useful for novelists (literary types and/or genre writers). It's not elegantly written, unlike a number of others I've read, but then the goal was not to impress readers but to provide help. Like any good writing book, it's as useful as you make it. It would be a good acquisition for any writer who is prepared to spend some time with it. ( )

This is the writing book I've always wanted but never knew I needed. It goes into fantastic detail on how to make your own writing process better. I loved each section: writing, reading, and community. I will be referring back to this book often and will re-read it over and over. ( )